McKenzie is reunited with cygnet Stitch

Schoolboy Mckenzie Gelder-Brown and his mum Samantha rescued three-week-old cygnet Stitch at Walton Colliery Nature Park after he was abandoned by his parents.

It was a four-hour mission for the 11-year-old to coax the nervous bird from its hiding place and a lot of work to nurse the cygnet back to health.

Stitch was then transferred to the Yorkshire Swan Rescue Centre in Selby until he was old enough to be released.

Now six months later, Mckenzie, now 12 and at Crofton Academy, was reunited with Stitch to set him free at Pugneys Country Park. Samantha said: “It was quite wonderful and emotional seeing them together again.

“Mckenzie has talked about Stitch constantly since the summer and he was gobsmacked with how big he’s got.”

Samantha, from Sharlston, said they had been back to Pugneys twice since Stitch was released earlier this month to check up on him.

Mckenzie spent some of his summer at the swan centre is now an official volunteer.

Donate to the centre at www.ysrh.org.uk